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During 1921 the New Zealand side toured Australia, playing matches against New South Wales and Queensland, which served as selection trials for the upcoming 'Australasian' team's tour, for which only one New Zealander, Bert Laing, selected.[3] The team wore the sky blue jersey of New South Wales and the only non-New South Welsh player to appear in a test was Queenslander Billy Richards in the third.[4]

The Kangaroos' winning streak came to an end when they played against England. Australasia led 5-3 at the break and the match seemed to be theirs when Frank Burge scored a late try, but it was disallowed by referee Frank Renton. Thus, a sole second-half try from the British close to full-time was enough for them to win it.

In the second Test the scores were 2-all at half-time, but after that the Australian backline of Horder, Carstairs, Vest and Blinkhorn cut loose, the Kangaroos scored 4 tries to nil, the win setting up the third and final Test as the Ashes decider. This was also the last Test in the international career of Sandy Pearce and made him the oldest ever Kangaroo.

The Kangaroos played sixteen more tour matches between the second and third Tests:

Up to and including the final Kangaroo Tour which included matches against English club sides in 1994, this would be the highest ever score by the Kangaroos, the closest The Kangaroos ever came to this score was an 80–2 win over the Sheffield Eagles in 1994.

The decider was played on a heavy, snow-bound field, much to the dismay of the fleet-footed Kangaroos. Early in the match the Australians were reduced to twelve men when Chook Fraser suffered a broken leg;[20] in what was described as "a bruising encounter", Herman Hilton took a pass from his captain, the "prince of centres", Harold Wagstaff to dive over, taking two defenders over the try-line with him.[21] The final score was 6 - 0 in favour of the home side.[22] By winning this third and deciding test of the series, Britain claimed the Ashes.

By the end of the tour, Australian three-quarter, Cec Blinkhorn, had scored 39 tries in 29 matches, which still stands as the record for most tries scored on a Kangaroo tour and will most likely never be beaten.[23] Other winger, Harold Horder scored 35, and forward Frank Burge was not far behind with 33 tries from 23 games.[24]

The team travelled back to Australia on the Orvieto, arriving in Fremantle in February 1922.[25] Upon their return to Sydney a large dinner was held for the tourists by the New South Wales Rugby Football League, which was attended by the likes of Sir Joynton Smith, to celebrate the players' courageous effort and the fact that this was the first team to return to Sydney with a profit.[26]

1.
Australasia rugby league team
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The Australasian rugby league team represented Australia and New Zealand in rugby league sporadically between 1910 and 1922. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, appearances for the team were counted towards the Australian teams records and playing register, the team toured Great Britain twice, participating in two Ashes series, and also played Great Britain twice in Sydney. The Australasian side first played in 1910, after Great Britain had defeated Australia in two Test matches it was decided that two games would be played between Australasia and Great Britain. The team played in the Australian jerseys sky blue with maroon hoops and they became the first tourists to win the Ashes. Prior to the tour a series of matches between New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand was organised as a basis of selection for the tour. The New South Welshmen dominated the touring side, with four New Zealanders, however, counted amongst the New South Welshmen was Con Sullivan, who had moved to Australia from New Zealand a few years before. The team wore the sky blue jersey of New South Wales and the only non-New South Welsh player to appear in a test was Queenslander Billy Richards in the third

2.
Australia national rugby league team
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The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior mens rugby league football competition since the establishment of the Northern Union game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos are ranked second in the RLIF World Rankings. The team are the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having contested all 14 and winning 10 of them, failing to reach the only once. Only four nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia have a win percentage of 67%. Dating back to 1908, Australia are the fourth oldest national side after England, New Zealand, the team was first assembled in 1908 for a tour of Great Britain. The majority of the Kangaroos games since then have played against Great Britain. In the first half of the 20th century, Australias international competition came from alternating tours to Great Britain and New Zealand, on tours to Great Britain, Australia was known as the Kangaroos. Great Britain dominated in the years, and Australia did not win a Test against the Lions until 11 November 1911 under captain Chris McKivat. Australia did not win a series at home against Great Britain until 1920 or abroad until 1958, since 7 July 1994 the teams official nickname has been the Kangaroos, though they had unofficially been referred to as such since 1908. Previously, the Australian team was referred to as the Kangaroos when on tours of Great Britain or France. In 1997 Australia was also represented by a Super League Australia team, Rugby football has been played in Australia since the 1860s. In 1863 Sydney University became the first rugby club to be formed in Sydney, the Sydney Football Club and the Wallaroos followed, and inter-club competition commenced. By 1880, there were 100 clubs across the country, in 1888 an English team visited Australasia, playing rugby rules in Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand, and Australian rules football in Victoria and South Australia. In 1899, an Australian team was formed for the first time using players from Queensland and they played a series of Tests against a British team. By 1907, Sydney club rugby games were attracting up to 20,000 people, with all going to the Southern Rugby Football Union. This caused discontent among players, and in 1908 the New South Wales Rugby Football League, an Australian national rugby league team was first formed during the first season of rugby league in Australia, the 1908 NSWRFL Premiership season. Later that year the Australian team arranged to go on a tour of its own, the first Kangaroos arrived in England on 27 September 1908, and played their first ever test against the Northern Union in December in London. It finished 22 all in front of a crowd of 2,000, the second test in Newcastle in January 1909 attracted a crowd of 22,000, and the Northern Union won 15–5

3.
Arthur Hennessy
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Arthur Stephen Ash Hennessy was an Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for whom he played. He was a state and national representative hooker/forward and was the first captain of the Australian national rugby league team and he later coached at club, state and national representative levels. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Hennessy played his junior football in the centres for the Boys Brigade in 1895. He then played for Bayview in 1896 and became a South Sydney junior, by 1901 Hennessy was a regular first grade rugby union player for Souths. He represented New South Wales in 1901,1902 and 1904 and his enthusiastic foraging and tackling soon changed Kiwi minds. In 1907 he was made Souths captain, when the New Zealand All Golds toured in 1907, Hennessy joined the breakaway New South Wales Rugby Football League and was selected as the new codes first New South Wales captain. In October of that year Hennessy chaired a meeting of rugby identities with a view to creating a South Sydney rugby league club, the club was formed on 17 January 1908 and Hennessy was the inaugural captain-coach. For rugby league, Hennessys place in the scheme of things is nothing less than extraordinary, the games were played under rugby union rules as no one had a copy of the new codes laws. Hennessy subsequently read the book which arrived in Australia and declared. Along with his fellow pioneers Hennessy was prepared to accept the ill-will that accompanied the splitting of the rugby code and you had to take it on the chin and give it on the chin, he said. Many good friendships tumbled to dust when we switched football codes, Hennessy stands as a monumental figure in the South Sydney story. It was at his home at 9 Chapman St, Surry Hills in October 1907 that the meeting was held which led to the formation of the Rabbitohs, Hennessy has sent a circular to all rugby union clubs in the district, convening the meeting. Because of that day and the events followed, he can be fairly rated as the clubs founder. In 1908, Hennessy was Souths first hooker and, with Billy Cann and he coached Souths in their 1908 NSWRFL seasons final. In that foundation season he also had the honour of captaining Australia in its first ever rugby league Test – against New Zealand, Hennessy played in both Tests in May against New Zealand as captain, both of which Australia lost. Hennessy was selected to play in the first ever trans-Tasman test and he is listed in the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.1. In July of that season he made another representative appearance captaining New South Wales in a 43-0 whitewash of Queensland in the first ever Australian interstate match

4.
Les Cubitt
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Les Cubitt was an Australian representative rugby league player, a Centre or Five-eighth whose club career was with Eastern Suburbs and the Glebe Dirty Reds. He is considered one of the nations finest footballers of the 20th century, Cubitt commenced his club career at just eighteen years of age with Glebe playing alongside his brother Charlie Cubitt in the 1911 Grand Final loss to Eastern Suburbs. In 1913 Les Cubitt joined the Roosters where he played for the nine seasons winning a premiership in 1913. He was first selected for New South Wales in 1911 but had to wait until the end of the First World War to make his representative debut. He played in the centres in all four Tests of Australias first tour of New Zealand in 1919 scoring four tries in the tests and 17 tries in the last three tour matches and he is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.95. He was selected as captain of the 1921-22 Australasian Kangaroos which had two New Zealanders in the squad and he concealed a serious knee injury which he aggravated on the tour in England and which led to his eventual retirement in 1922. In February 2008, Cubitt was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the centenary year in Australia. Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

5.
RMS Tahiti
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RMS Tahiti was a 7,585 ton ocean liner operated by the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. Built in 1904 on Clydebank by the shipbuilders Alexander Stephen and Sons, taken up as a troop ship during World War I, she was subjected to an outbreak of Spanish influenza in 1918 with exceptionally high mortality amongst the troops on board. After being returned to her owners, in 1927 she was in collision with a ferry in Sydney Harbour, known as the Greycliffe disaster, Tahiti finally sank in the South Pacific Ocean due to flooding caused by a broken propeller shaft in 1930. Originally named RMS Port Kingston, she was built by Alexander Stephen and she had been ordered by the Imperial Direct West Mail Company of Bristol, who were a subsidiary of Elder Dempster Shipping Limited. She was intended for the Bristol to Kingston, Jamaica route, which she was able to cover in ten and she had accommodation for 277 first class, 97-second and 141 third class passengers on four decks and had a crew of 135. Besides carrying mail, she had a hold for a cargo of fruit, Port Kingston survived the 1907 Kingston earthquake and although beached, was successfully refloated. In 1911, she was purchased by the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, refitted at Bristol and she was intended for the route Sydney to San Francisco via Wellington, Rarotonga and Tahiti, she made her first voyage on 11 December 1911. On the outbreak of war in 1914, the Tahiti was requisitioned to serve as a troopship, on 11 September 1915, she arrived in Wellington with the first casualties from the Gallipoli campaign. Tahiti left New Zealand on 10 July 1918 with 1,117 troops onboard and 100 crew members, when she met the rest of her convoy at Freetown in Sierra Leone, reports of disease ashore led to a quarantine order for the ships. The first soldiers suffering from Spanish influenza began reporting to the hospital on Tahiti on 26 August, the day that she left Freetown. By the time she arrived at Devonport on 10 September 68 men had died and a further nine died afterwards and it is estimated that more than 1,000 of those on board had been infected with the disease. A later enquiry found that mortality was worst in those over 40 years, mortality was also higher in those sleeping in bunk beds rather than in hammocks. The conclusion of the enquiry was that overcrowding and poor ventilation had contributed to the exceptionally high infection rate and it was one of the worst outbreaks worldwide for the 1918/19 pandemic in terms of both morbidity and mortality. In 1919, the Tahiti was returned to her owners and her boilers were converted from coal firing to oil, in 1920, she made her first post-war voyage to Vancouver and reverted to the San Francisco route in the following year. On 3 November 1927, Tahiti collided with the Watsons Bay ferry Greycliffe off Bradleys Head in Sydney Harbour, the crowded ferry was split in two and sank within three minutes. Of 120 passengers on the ferry,40 were killed, at 10,10 p. m. on 16 August, the Norwegian steamer SS Penybryn arrived on the scene to render assistance. Penybryn stood by Tahiti throughout the night of 16–17 August with her floodlights illuminating Tahiti and her boats ready to go to the assistance of Tahiti′s passengers and crew if needed. The American steamer SS Ventura was just arriving on the scene, having signaled that she could take Tahiti′s passengers and crew aboard, and she picked them up soon after they abandoned ship

6.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush

7.
New Zealand national rugby league team
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The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are known as the Kiwis. The teams colours are majority black with white and the players perform a haka before every match they play as a challenge to their opponents. The New Zealand Kiwis won the most recent Four Nations competition in 2014 and, since the 2015 Anzac Test, since the 1980s, most New Zealand representatives have been based overseas, in the professional National Rugby League and Super League competitions. Before that players were selected entirely from clubs in domestic New Zealand leagues, since then the Kiwis have regularly competed in international competition, touring Europe and Australia throughout the 20th century. New Zealand have competed in every Rugby League World Cup since the first in 1954, in 2008 New Zealand won the World Cup for the first time. They also contest the Baskerville Shield against England, and play an annual Anzac Test against Australia, Rugby football was introduced into New Zealand by Charles John Monro, son of the then speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Sir David Monro. He had been sent to Christs College, East Finchley in north London and he brought the game back to his native Nelson, and arranged the first rugby match between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club, played on 14 May 1870. When New Zealands national rugby team toured Britain in 1905 they witnessed the growing popularity of the breakaway non-amateur Northern Unions games, on his return in 1906, All Black George William Smith met the Australian entrepreneur J J Giltinan to discuss the potential of professional rugby in Australasia. The first New Zealand team to play rugby was known as the All Blacks. To avoid confusion, the terms professional All Blacks or All Golds are used, in the meantime, a lesser known New Zealand rugby player, Albert Henry Baskerville was ready to recruit a group of players for a Great Britain pro tour. It is believed that Baskerville became aware of the profits to be made such a venture while he was working at the Wellington Post Office in 1906. A colleague had a fit and dropped a British newspaper. Baskerville picked it up and noticed a report about a Northern Union match that over 40,000 people had attended, Baskerville wrote to the NRFU asking if they would host a New Zealand touring party. The 1905 All Blacks tour was still fresh in English minds, thus the NU saw the upcoming competitive New Zealand tour as exceptional opportunity to raise the profile, the NU agreed to the tour provided that some of those original All Blacks were included in the New Zealand team. George Smith arrived back in New Zealand and after learning of Baskervilles plans, the New Zealand Rugby Union became aware of the tour and promptly applied pressure to any All Black or New Zealand representative player it suspected of involvement. They had the New Zealand Governments Agent General in London deliver a statement to the British press in an effort to undermine the tours credibility. This had little effect and by time the professional All Blacks were already sailing across the Tasman to give Australia its first taste of professional rugby

8.
New South Wales rugby league team
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The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sports beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against neighbouring team and this annual event is a series of three games competing for the State of Origin shield. In 2013,2014,2015 and 2016 the Blues were captained by Paul Gallen and they have played all their home matches at Stadium Australia, New South Wales largest stadium, since it was built in 1999. The visiting All Golds won all three games, later in 1908 the Queensland team, whose first taste of rugby league football was also against the visiting Kiwis, traveled to Sydney for the first series of games between the two states. New South Wales won all three matches, setting a precedent for interstate dominance that would continue throughout most of the 20th century, in 1910 New South Wales defeated the touring England team in two of their three games. After that they became the first Blues side to travel to Queensland for the interstate series. In 1912 the New South Wales team first toured New Zealand and they also visited New Zealand in 1913. During the 1913 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia New South Wales played four matches against the Kiwis, the New South Wales team lost its first game against Queensland in 1922. This year the Blues also toured New Zealand, during the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand New South Wales played one match against the successful France national rugby league team, a 14-all draw. In a 1954 tour match between Great Britain and New South Wales the referee left the field in disgust at the players persistent fighting after 56 minutes so the match was abandoned. New South Wales dominance over Queensland came to an end with the introduction of state of origin selection rules in the early 1980s, ricky Stuart, who had previously coached New South Wales in 2005, was announced as the first full-time Blues coach in November 2010. Following the 2012 series, the Blues seventh consecutive loss, Stuart resigned the role, Stuart took a role as the Parramatta Eels head coach in 2013, citing family reasons for his move. Although the Blues continued their losing streak during Stuarts tenure, he is credited with restoring passion and pride to the NSW jersey and he was replaced by former Canberra, NSW and Australia teammate Laurie Daley. Daleys appointment as NSW State of Origin coach was announced in August 2012, Daley got job over candidates including Trent Barrett, Brad Fittler and Daniel Anderson. Daley coached the Blues to a victory in 2014, their first since 2005 and over his coaching rival. The secondary colour is blue, with additional contrasting colour of white. The official New South Wales rugby league team supporter group is known as Blatchys Blues,1 - Josh Dugan was originally selected to play in Game I, but he withdrew due to an elbow injury. He was replaced by Josh Morris,2 - James Tamou was originally selected to start on the bench in Game I, but however on game day he swapped positions with Greg Bird

9.
Queensland rugby league team
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The Queensland rugby league team has represented the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football since the sports beginnings there in 1908. Nicknamed the Maroons after the colour of their jersey, the plays three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of Origin series. Captained by Cameron Smith and coached by Kevin Walters, Queensland, since 1908 a Queensland representative rugby league team had been assembled from players based in the state to compete annually against New South Wales. The team used to play matches against other foreign and domestic touring teams. Until 1987 clubs from both the Brisbane Rugby League and the NSWRL provided players for the side, Maroons players have been chosen exclusively from clubs in the National Rugby League since Game III2001 when Allan Langer was selected from Europes Super League. Recently the team achieved a record-breaking eight successive State of Origin victories from 2006 to 2013, Queensland had already been playing in their maroon jerseys each year against New South Wales in their sky blue before the split in rugby football between union and league took place. This set the precedent for much of interstate rugby leagues history in Australia. During the 1912 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia, Queensland lost both its matches against the Kiwis in Brisbane, again, Queensland played two matches against the Kiwis during the 1913 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia and again the Maroons lost both. New South Wales had won every match between the two states until 1922, when the Maroons, with Cyril Connell playing at halfback, achieved their maiden victory and this commenced Queenslands only golden period before the introduction of State of Origin. In 1925 Queensland toured New Zealand and played against the full New Zealand side, the Queensland side was invited to tour ahead of the New South Wales side because Queensland was the more dominant of the two during this period. During the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand Queensland played one match against the successful France national rugby league team, as the twentieth century progressed, New South Wales proved to be the dominant team. Queensland did not win a series against New South Wales until 1958. This meant that selection would be based on the state a player made his debut in. Queenslands first truly representative team won the first State of Origin match 20–10 on 8 July 1980, after Queensland lost the first two games in 1981 the third match was again a State of Origin match. Queensland also won game, and all subsequent series have been played under State of Origin selection criteria. Queenslands overall record in interstate clashes between 1908 and 1981 was 54 wins,8 draws and 159 losses in 221 games, between 1908 and 1979 Queensland also played matches against a number of touring Test teams. In the inaugural State of Origin match in 1980, Queensland surprised all in a commanding 20–10 win over New South Wales, Arthur Beetson and Chris Close were the stars for Queensland, but Kerry Boustead scored Queenslands first ever try. This saw the new State of Origin rules applied a fairer game, in 1981, legendary captain Arthur Beetson was ready to play before injury ruled him out, so he became coach of the team, and would remain so for the next three years

10.
Billy Cann
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Billy Cann was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1900s who later wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative lock forward, Cann played his club football for South Sydney with whom he won the 1914 NSWRFL Premiership. Cann was also an administrator at Souths and a football journalist. Cann, a contemporary of Dally Messenger and Albert Rosenfeld, began his career as a Rugby union three-quarter at Souths. Frustrated at being ignored by rugby union selectors, he joined the rebel New South Wales rugby league team played the New Zealand All Golds in 1907. Cann joined South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1908, butler was then selected to tour England with the Kangaroos in the 1908-09 so was unable to play in Souths first premiership win in 1908. Cann is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.20, Cann was a member of the premiership-winning Souths teams of 1909. Cann also represented Australasia in 1910, Cann was selected to go on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain as well as two tours to New Zealand with the New South Wales team. Cann was a member of the premiership-winning Souths teams of 1914 and he had played 9 seasons with the club. Cann was a member of Souths committee from 1908 as well as a delegate to the New South Wales Rugby Football League, in 1921–1922, Cann was co-manager of the Kangaroo tour along with Souths secretary, S. G. George Ball. During the 1940s and 50s, Cann was a vice-president of the NSWRFL and he also wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. Cann is credited with shaping the role of the lock in the new code, john Quinlan said of Cann, It was he who introduced the typical Australian style of fast forward play in which the backs and forwards combine so effectively and spectacularly. It is no reflection on his successors to say the original model remains the greatest gem and he was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914. In February 2008, Cann was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the centenary year in Australia. The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, wetherill Park, New South Wales, Gary Allen Pty Ltd. p.74. Sydney, New South Wales, ABC Enterprises

11.
Queensland Rugby League
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The Queensland Rugby Football League is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission and selects the members of the Queensland rugby league team, the QRL aims to foster, develop, extend, govern and control Rugby League Football throughout the State of Queensland. Today the QRL administers the rugby league through its regional divisions and it is also responsible for the Queensland Rugby League team. The QRLs headquarters are on Vulture Street, Woolloongabba in Brisbane, the Queensland Rugby Football League was formed in 1908 by seven rugby players who were dissatisfied with the administration of the Queensland Rugby Union as the Queensland Rugby Association. Those founding fathers were Micky Dore, George Watson, Jack Fihelly, E Buchanan, Alf Faulkner and Sine Boland. On 16 May that year a hastily assembled Queensland team played the touring New Zealand All Golds side in Brisbane, later that month there were three representative games against New South Wales, which acted as selection trials for a national team. Other teams that entered the competition include, Milton, South Brisbane, West End, Natives, Merthyr, the QRL administers rugby league in Queensland through the following divisions. As of 2010 the Central, South West and Wide Bay divisions were amalgamated to form the new Central Division, since 1998 the team winning the Queensland Cup is considered to be the premier club team in Queensland. The Brisbane A-Grade Rugby League, also known as the FOGS Cup, and it is regarded as the division below the Queensland Cup. The Foley Shield competition began in North Queensland in 1948, with the introduction of the Queensland Cup in 1996 the Foley Shield competition was scrapped, only to be reintroduced in 2000. Since the revamp in 2000 it has only contested by the three largest cities in North Queensland, Cairns, Mackay and Townsville. The Cyril Connell & Mal Meninga Cups were introduced in 2009 to provide a pathway for young rugby players to reach the professional levels of the game. Named after famous Queensland rugby league personalities Cyril Connell and Mal Meninga, both competitions have the same structure of sixteen team split into two geographically aligned groups. Pool A contains teams from outside of Brisbane while Pool B comprises teams from the Brisbane metropolitan area, the teams are, Rugby league in Queensland Australian Rugby League Queensland Rugby League team Constitution of the Queensland Rugby Football League Limited. Archived from the original on 24 October 2009, official website Leagues Queensland page Queensland Rugby League History Rugby League clubs in Queensland Queensland Masters Rugby League Association inc

12.
Harry Sunderland
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Harry Sunderland was an Australian rugby league football administrator and journalist. Sunderland was born in Gympie, Queensland in 1889, from 1913 to 1922, Sunderland was the Queensland Rugby Leagues secretary. His administration is credited with the growth of the League in Queensland despite the First World War, however towards the end of his tenure with the QRL, player discontent with his administration led to the breakway formation of the Brisbane Rugby League. Sunderland was the manager for the 1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. On 25 October 1938 Sunderland arrived in Wigan to take up the duties of Secretary-Manager at Central Park, on 28 September the following year, his contract was terminated and he and the club parted company. At the start of the 1950s he submitted a plan to the Australian Rugby League Board of Control for promoting rugby league in the United States. After moving to Melbourne, Victoria where he attempted to promote rugby league, Sunderland returned north. He later moved to England where he became manager of the Wigan Rugby League Football Club, since his death in Chorlton upon Medlock, Manchester in 1964, the Harry Sunderland Trophy has been awarded to the man-of-the-match in the European Super League Grand Final. In addition, the Harry Sunderland Medal is the given to the best Australian player in each home Ashes series. Harry Sunderland at the Online Dictionary of Australian Biographies

13.
Sandy Pearce
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Sid Pearce directs here, for his son, the rugby league player of the same name, see Joe Pearce Sidney Charles Pearce, better known as Sandy, was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer and boxer. He is considered one of the nations finest footballers of the 20th century and he made his first national representative appearance in 1908. A hooker, Pearce played his career of 157 matches for the Eastern Suburbs club between 1908 and 1921. Pearce was a member of the Eastern Suburbs side that won three premierships from 1911–13. He was also a member of the three Easts City Cup winning sides from 1914 to 1916 and he was the first Eastern Suburbs player to register 100 matches with the club and the first in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership to play in 150 matches. Sandy Pearce was a member of the side played against the New Zealand ‘All Golds in 1908 helping to establish the code in Australia. He went on the inaugural Kangaroo tour of England in 1908–09 where he was one of five players from the thirty-five strong touring party to play in all three Test matches. He also played in 30 other minor matches on that tour, Pearce, along with friend and team-mate Dally Messenger chose not to go on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. At 38 years of age he was selected for the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain where he played in two Tests and nineteen minor games. In all he played in fourteen of the first seventeen test matches between Australia and England, aged 38 years and 158 days for his final Test on 5 November 1921, he became the oldest player ever to represent Australia. He retired as Australias most-capped rugby league player, Sandy Pearce and his son Joe Pearce later became the first father and son to represent Australia in rugby league. Sandy Pearce is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.17, Pearce came from a family of sporting champions. His father Harry Pearce was a champion sculler. Sandys brother Walter was a long distance cyclist, sister Lilly Pearce was also a noted sculler. Nephew Bobby Pearce was probably the most recognised – a dual Olympic sculling gold medalist]], sandys own son Joe Pearce followed in his footsteps playing rugby league for Eastern Suburbs and representing NSW and Australia in that sport. He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914, following his retirement from the game as a player Pearce took up a role as trainer with the University club. Despite having a long and injury free rugby league career, Pearce died age of 47 from what was determined as heart strain, the cortège for his funeral was said to be more than a mile long. Famous Rugby league players were the pallbearers including Dally Messenger, Peter Burge, Frank Burge, Arthur Surridge Reg Latta and he was buried at South Head Cemetery on Saturday 15 November 1930

14.
1921 NSWRFL season
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The 1921 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the fourteenth season of Australia’s first rugby league football club competition which was based in Sydney. Nine teams from across the city contested the season, with North Sydney being crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the League. The 1921 season also saw the St George club enter the competition, replacing the Annandale club, because the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain departed in mid-July only one series of nine rounds was played, with the second series being devoted to the City Cup. The premiership was decided with no finals on a first-past-the-post basis, premiers North Sydney became the second team to go through a season undefeated - seven wins and an 8-8 draw with Easts in round 5. Their brilliant performance earned them their maiden premiership, university became the third team to have gone through a season winless, as Annandale had done the previous season and in 1918. University’s season yielded eight losses from eight starts, conceding 295 points at an average of 36.88 per match, the season saw an experiment with referees instead of halfbacks feeding the scrum. Although the experiment was quickly viewed a dismal failure and abandoned. With the addition of St George in place of the recently departed Annandale club, the number of teams in the League remained at nine. com. au

15.
Sydney Uni Rugby League Club
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Sydney Uni Rugby League Club is a rugby league team currently playing in the NSW Tertiary Student Rugby League competition. The movement at the University of Sydney to be involved in the new game of rugby league began in 1919 with a number of viewing a game of the new code. A special meeting of supporters was held and decided to enter three teams, all members to play as strict amateurs. While public pressure forced the Association to relent, the club never once played a game at the University Oval during its involvement in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, the highlight of the Students 18 seasons in the NSWRL Premiership was their one and only finals appearance. This run of form, in addition to having spent 12 of its 18 seasons in last place prompted their decision to withdraw from the Premiership at the close of the 1937 season. Rugby league did not perish at the University of Sydney and sides representing the University continued to play in various competitions, as runners-up in the 1969 Second Division, University were invited to compete in the NSWRL pre-season competition in 1970. Despite the inclusion of players from other metropolitan University clubs and professional coaches. University finished 13th in the competition with 1 win from 4 games, in 1922 the University of Sydney Club presented the league with a shield for use as a trophy in a statewide High School Rugby League knockout competition. The competition became known as the University Shield and is regarded as one of the most prestigious competitions in schoolboy rugby league. Australian Representative Ray Morris Jim Craig New South Wales Hubert Butt Finn Jim McIntyre A. S, biggest Loss 63 points, 0-63 against South Sydney Rabbitohs at Sydney Sports Ground on April 17,1937

16.
Cec Blinkhorn
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Cyril Cec Blinkhorn was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1910s and 1920s. He played in the NSWRFL premiership for the North Sydney and South Sydney clubs and he primarily played on the wing and has been named amongst the nations finest footballers of the 20th century. Although born in Redfern, New South Wales, the middle of Souths territory and he was graded to Norths in 1914 and for five years he was the teams leading try-scorer. Blinkhorn spent the 1919 season at Souths, where he met fellow winger, in 1920, Horder and Blinkhorn moved to Norths, where they remained until 1923. Both wingers returned to Souths in 1924, Blinkhorn was a member of the premiership winning Norths teams of 1921, where the team went through undefeated, and 1922 when Norths met Glebe in the Grand final. Blinkhorn was first selected to play for Australia in 1921, on that 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, he scored a record 39 tries in 29 matches and played in three Tests. This record still stands as the most tries scored on a Kangaroo tour and he played one further Test against England in 1924. Cec Blinkhorn is Kangaroo No.116, in February 2008, Blinkhorn was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the codes centenary year in Australia. Four of Cecs nephews all made appearances for Norths, clarrie Blinkhorn played in the 1930s. His brothers Jack and Harold played in the forwards in the 1950s and 1960s, the Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales, Gary Allen Pty Ltd. p.40, Cec Blinkhorn at NRL Stats Cec Blinkhorn at northsydneybears. com. au

17.
North Sydney Bears
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The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition, the Bears are based on Sydneys Lower North Shore, and have played at North Sydney Oval since 1910. There is a bid supporting a resurrection of the club in the NRL as the Central Coast Bears, based in Gosford, New South Wales. The club was established in 1908, making it one of the founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. North Sydney are presently in partnership with the Rabbitohs serving as Souths reserve grade side, until the end of season 2009, Souths were coached by the Bears record-breaking top points scorer, Jason Taylor. North Sydney was formed as a club of the newly arrived rugby league game in 1908 and were known as the Shoremen. Like the other Sydney district clubs, Norths were largely born from players and officials from the local Rugby Union club, the club initially struggled to obtain access to North Sydney Oval, but council obstruction was removed and the Shoremen played their first real home game in 1910. Many good players such as Andy Morton, Jimmy Devereaux and Sid Deane were lost to English clubs in the years making the semi-finals in the season of 1908. They were nearly dropped from the competition during World War I because of dwindling spectator numbers, towards the end of the war, Norths fortunes improved, playing quality and spectators numbers increased and they won 2 premierships in 1921–22 coached by Chris McKivat. Unfortunately, these would be their last first grade premierships and their last grand final appearance was in 1943, when an injury riddled North Sydney were beaten by Newtown 34–7. North Sydneys Captain-coach in the Grand Final of 1943 was the doyen of rugby league broadcasters. As Lane Cove was in North Sydneys district, the club protested to the NSWRFL, the team became known as the North Sydney Bears during the 1950s after accepting a sponsorship from the nearby Big Bear supermarket at Neutral Bay. The 1952 season saw North Sydney reach the finals for the first time since 1943, the Bears continued to make appearances in the finals during the next few decades, and produced arguably the greatest winger the game has ever seen in Ken Irvine. Irvine still hold the record for most first grade tries for one club, New South Wales representative Queenslander, Bruce Walker, captained the Bears in the final of the 1976 Amco Cup. The nineties saw finals appearances and near misses in 1991, on 14 July 1994 the club was fined $87,000 for breaching the salary cap. That year they came within one match of the grand final, North Sydney remained loyal to the Australian Rugby League during the Super League war of the mid-1990s. In the 1996 ARL season the Bears came within one match of the Grand Final, the following year saw two separate national rugby league championships, and confirmation of the clubs intention to move north to New South Wales Central Coast. Due to having a debt of around $4 million, the North Sydney club were not even considered for the NRLs inclusion criteria

18.
Frank Burge
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Frank “Chunky” Burge was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later Burge became one of the game’s finest coaches and his club career was with Glebe and the St. George Dragons. He represented New South Wales on eighteen occasions and played thirteen test matches for the Kangaroos, Born on 14 August 1894 in Darlington, New South Wales, Burge was playing first grade rugby union at age 14, the youngest ever to play senior rugby in either code. Upon switching to the professional New South Wales Rugby Football League, after his attempt to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force was rejected because of a speech impediment, Burge devoted his energies to rugby league. He debuted for Australia in the domestic 1914 Ashes series against Great Britain appearing in all three Tests and he is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.88. Burge was the New South Wales Rugby Football League’s top try-scorer in 1915,1916 and 1918 an extremely rare feat in one year for a forward. On the 1919 tour of New Zealand Burge played in all four tests, in the 1920 season, he was the league’s top point scorer. Burge holds the NSWRFL/NSWRL/ARL/NRL record for most tries in a match, burges representative record shows him appearing in every single Australian Test match played in the war-interrupted eight-year period between 1914 and 1922. He played 16 seasons and 148 first grade games for Glebe and was captain for many years. His career tally of 146 first grade tries stood for eighty years as the highest by a forward until Manly-Warringah back rower Steven Menzies broke it in 2004. Burge moved to St. George in 1927, retired as a player at the end of that season and he maintained an average of a try a game for seventeen seasons scoring 218 tries in 213 senior matches with 146 coming from his 154 Sydney first grade matches. That try-scoring tally today stands at eleventh on an all-time list dominated by backs, Burge was awarded life membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1934. Burge died suddenly after suffering an attack on 5 July 1958. Woronora Crematorium where he was cremated and he was survived by his wife Millie. Revered Sun Herald sports journalist, Tom Goodwin said of Burge, indeed, he may of been the greatest league player ever. In 2004 he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, in February 2008, Frank Burge was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the codes centenary year in Australia. Burge went on to be named as a player in Australian rugby leagues Team of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions

19.
Glebe (rugby league team)
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They were formed on 9 January 1908, with some sources suggesting that they may have been the first Sydney rugby league club to have been created. They were nicknamed and well known as the Dirty Reds due to the colour of their playing jerseys. Based in Glebe, New South Wales and playing most of their home out of the local Wentworth Oval. Though they came close at times, the club was never able to secure a premiership title, after struggling towards the end of the 1920s the club was eventually voted out of the premiership. The club was revived in late 2015 and intends to field teams in 2017 for the first time in 87 years, at the turn of the 20th century, Glebe was a working-class suburb of Sydney, situated a few kilometres to the west of the city centre. A Glebe team had played in the Sydney second grade competition for a number of years. Glebe immediately made a big impact on the competition, winning all three grades in the inaugural season before taking out another three first grade titles over the next seven years. When the push for the formation of a new rugby league competition began. The Glebe District Rugby League Football Club was formed as a result on 8 January 1908, there was much support from both players and locals for the new team and this was considered an achievement in itself for the New South Wales Rugby League. As with the rugby team, the new rugby league club chose to play in maroon-coloured jerseys. The club began their campaign with an 8–5 victory over Newcastle on 20 April 1908. Throughout the season they remained close to or on top of the ladder and with one round remaining were on equal points with South Sydney. In their semi final, Glebe went down 16–3 to minor premiers South Sydney and were knocked out of the competition, in 1909, the club again lost their final regular-season match against Balmain 10–5 and ended up missing out on a possible finals berth by virtue of the loss. In 1910, the club had a season and had little chance of ever taking the premiership out. The 1911 season was arguably the most successful in the clubs history and they also secured their first-ever victory over local rivals Balmain, winning 41–2 in the second last regular-season match of the season. However, they came up against an Eastern Suburbs side led by Dally Messenger who had won six matches straight. In a match where Glebe were leading almost all the way, Eastern Suburbs fought back and took the lead within the ten minutes to 11–8. In round four, Glebe faced Eastern Suburbs in front of a crowd of 22,000 at the Royal Agricultural Society Grounds

20.
Sydney Roosters
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The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. Only the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St. George Dragons have won more premierships, the club holds the record for having the most wins and the second greatest margin of victory in a match in Australian rugby league history. The Eastern Suburbs DRLFC is the club to have played in each and every season at the elite level. Coached by Trent Robinson along with captains Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend, as such, much of the clubs merchandise and paraphernalia, especially those marketed directly to long-serving and dedicated members, includes the insignia ESDRLFC. Indeed, the suburb of Sydney, postcode 2000, falls entirely within the boundaries of the ESDRLFC. Unofficially nicknamed the Tricolours due to their red, white and blue playing strip, Eastern Suburbs won its first match, however, the club rapidly declined and failed to win the premiership for the next nine seasons. Eastern Suburbs missed the finals once from 1926 to 1942, and in time won four titles. During this period, Dave Brown set several point-scoring records that still stand, in 1935, the team lost just one game, and recorded the highest winning margin in their history, an 87–7 victory over Canterbury. In 1936, Eastern Suburbs became one of five teams in history to remain undefeated for an entire season. They are the club to remain unbeaten for two consecutive seasons. Despite claiming the premiership in 1945, Eastern Suburbs failed to make the finals for the seven seasons. A runners-up finish in 1960 was the closest the club came to claiming the premiership during this era, Eastern Suburbs were soundly defeated 31–6 in the grand final that year, by the famous record-beating St George outfit. In 1966, the fell to new depths and was winless for the first time in its history. It was also the last occasion in which the Roosters won the wooden spoon until claiming it again in the 2009 season. It ended a run for Eastern Suburbs, from 1963 to 1966, they won 8 of 72 matches, finishing second to last in 1964. The club underwent a renaissance in 1967 after appointing Jack Gibson as coach, and introducing a new emblem on the playing jerseys, from 1972 to 1982, the Roosters won four minor premierships and played in four grand finals, winning two consecutively. Gibson, now dubbed as Super Coach, returned to lead the team from 1974 to 1976, in 1974 and 1975, the team won 39 of 44 matches, both minor premierships, and both grand finals and set a premiership record of 19 consecutive wins. Between 1984 and 1995, the Roosters reached the semi-finals once, the club came close to reaching the premiership in 1987 under coach and favourite son Arthur Beetson, being defeated by eventual premiers Manly in a bruising major semi-final, 10–6

21.
George Carstairs
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George James Carstairs was an Australian rugby league player from the 1920s, who represented Australia. Born to parents George and Adeline Carstairs on 25 March 1900 and he learned the game of rugby league at Kogarah Marist Brothers, where he attended as a student. He made his first grade début in St Georges foundation year in 1921 and he had the honour of scoring the first try in St. Georges first competition match on 3 April 1921, in a game that saw Glebe defeat St. George 4–3. At years end, he was selected to play on the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and he is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.123. He played in the 2nd and 3rd test matches on that tour and this happened to be his last representative appearance, either for Australia or his state. Carstairs retired at the end of the 1929 season, George Carstairs bravely served in the both world wars. He enlisted in the AIF in January 1917, claiming he was 18 years of age and he sailed out with the 1st Battalion/24 Reinforcements on 17 February 1917 to see action in France, and returned to Australia in 1919 at wars end. He also enlisted in the Australian Army during World War II in 1940, aged 40, brave until the end, George Carstairs died from complications due to old war injuries at the Concord Repatriation Hospital on 14 October 1966, aged 66

22.
St. George Dragons
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As a stand-alone club, they field teams in the NSWRL underage competitions, Harold Matthews Cup and S. G. Ball. Entering the New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1921, the St George club won 15 premierships, the Dragons thus became second to only the South Sydney Rabbitohs in terms of total premierships won in the NSW Rugby Football League. Following the Super League war and formation of the NRL, the club formed a joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers in 1998, to become the St George Illawarra Dragons. NSWRFL president Henry Hoyle gave an address and a St. George club appeared likely to form. Undeterred, the St George Rugby League Football Club took form in 1910 when a team played in the NSWRL 3rd Grade Competition, the clubs first game took place against Newtown at Sans Souci and St George were victorious 36–0. With the demise of Annandale Rugby League Club, St George was successful in November 1920 in petitioning the NSWRL for promotion, in February 1921 at the Kogarah School of Arts, the St George District Rugby League Club came into being. The first President was Arthur Yager, with Joe McGraw chosen as Secretary, the clubs inaugural captain was Dual-code rugby international, Herb Gilbert who joined the club at aged 33 as captain-coach. The clubs inaugural first grade appearance was on St Georges Day,23 April 1921 against Glebe at the Sydney Sports Ground, St George won only two matches in their first season and finished equal second last in the premiership. Before the start of the 1921 season, trial matches were played at Sans Souci, during the 1921 season games were played at Hurstville Oval. In 1925 the club started using Earl Park at Arncliffe as its headquarters, the club played at Earl Park until the end of the 1939 season. The new club struggled during the 1920s finishing last in 1926, the hiring of another 33-year-old veteran leader in Frank Burge saw a change in the clubs fortunes. In 1927 under Burge, the Dragon Slayers, as they were then known, Harry Kadwell, the former South Sydney player and international half-back took over from Burge as captain-coach in 1931 and had four seasons with the club before his retirement. Justice would play eleven seasons with the club, followed by a long post-playing career with as Football Club secretary, in 1933 St George sneaked into the semi-finals in fourth place and won their way into the final against minor premiers Newtown. That same year won the first night competition conducted by the NSWRL. In 1935 St George, defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 91–6, the biggest win in their history, in 1937 for the fourth time in the clubs short history the Dragon Slayers finished as competition runners-up. Their inaugural premiership had still not been achieved when at the end of the decade, following the 1939 season, former Lord Mayor of Sydney, Jack Mostyn became President of the club in 1937 and retained the role for the next eight years. The long wait finally ended in 1941 when St George defeated Eastern Suburbs 31–14 at the Sydney Cricket Ground to take their inaugural First Grade premiership and they were captain-coached by Neville Smith. Brothers Jack and Herb Gilbert, Jr. the sons of the clubs first captain-coach Herb Gilbert both played in the match, the following year,1942 all three grades reached the Grand final with the 3rd grade side victorious

23.
Jim Craig (rugby league)
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Jim Craig was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He was a back for the Australian national team. He played in 7 Tests between 1921 and 1928 as captain on 3 occasions and has since been named amongst the nations finest footballers of the 20th century, Craig was a player of unparalleled versatility. It is known that he represented in Tests at fullback, centre, halfback and hooker with some of his club & tour football played at winger, five-eighth, whitickers reference reports that the great Dally Messenger regarded Craig as the greatest player Messenger ever saw. Craig grew up in Balmain in Sydney and played as a junor for the local club, Craig made his first grade NSWRFL Premiership debut as a winger in 1915 with the Balmain club. He played at centre for Balmain in the 1916 NSWRFL seasons premiership final victory over South Sydney, Craig played five seasons with the club excluding 1918 when he was on military duty. Balmain won the premiership in all five of those years, Craigs versatility was such that he was selected at hooker for a match on tour of New Zealand in 1919. Graig first represented for New South Wales against a touring English side in 1920 and he was selected on the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and made his Test debut in the first Test at Leeds. He appeared in 23 minor tour matches notching a total of 58 points as a try scorer, following his Kangaroo Tour representative appearances in 1922 he played a season with the University club in Sydney. In 1923 Craig relocated to Queensland and took the position with Ipswich for the next six seasons. While a Queensland resident from 1923–28 he represented that state on 23 occasions, in the 1924 domestic Ashes series against England Craig was named as Australian captain in all three Tests. Again in 1928 he played in all three Tests of the domestic Ashes series in sides led by his Queensland rival Tom Gorman, the last two seasons of Craigs sixteen-year career were with the Western Suburbs Magpies. Craig was the NSWRLs top points scorer in seasons 1929 and 1930 and he was captain-coach of the side to their maiden title over St George in season 1930 in the first ever Grand Final played to determine the premiership. After football Jim Craig coached Western Suburbs in 1932 and 1939 and he coached Canterbury-Bankstown to win the Premiership in 1938. Craig died on 13 December 1959, aged 65, in 2005 he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. In February 2008, Craig was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the centenary year in Australia. In June 2008, he was chosen in the Queensland Rugby Leagues Team of the Century on interchange bench, in 2012 Craig was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame

24.
Balmain Tigers
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The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership. In 1999 they formed a joint venture club with the neighbouring Western Suburbs Magpies club to form the Wests Tigers for competition in the National Rugby League and they no longer field any senior teams in the lower divisions. At the time of the joint venture only South Sydney Rabbitohs, the clubs home grounds are at present Leichhardt Oval, in Lilyfield, and T. G Milner Sportsground, in Marsfield. The distinctive black and gold colours of their 1908 thin striped jerseys lead their fans to nickname them THE TIGERS. Though it is claimed they were known as The Watersiders in the early days. It seemed to be used to not only to most Balmain sporting teams. The following boxing quote is an example, taken from Sydney Sportsman 11 Dec,1901. On Xmas Eve, Cam Brookes and Ike Stewart, heavyweights, meet at the Golden Gate, Brookes is another Balmain boy, as late as the 1930s some journalists were still using both Tigers and Watersiders in the same article. One of the earliest newspaper references to Balmain & Tigers appears in The Arrow 12 August 1911, the journalist Gulliver in his Football Notes column reports, W. G. B. Writes, Who said Balmain werent rough and he is very wild, but not so wild as the Balmain footballers. In 1908 Australias first season of rugby league began in Sydney, one of the clubs founders was future Premier of New South Wales, John Storey. Their home ground was Birchgrove Park, Wallabies game at Souths home ground. Souths were officially awarded the Premiership when they kicked off to an empty half of the field, Tigers dominance continued winning the 1919 and 1920 seasons comfortably. When they won the 1924 premiership this would be the last success for Balmain for over a decade to come and it would not be until 1939 the Tigers won back the Premiership smashing Souths 33-4. The weekend of the Final will also be remembered for the invasion of Poland by Germany which led to England, post-World War II marked a golden era for Balmain with the Tigers reaching five consecutive Grand Finals winning three of them. In the 1944 Grand Final the Tigers beat the strong favourites Newtown 19-16, Balmain reached the Grand Final again in 1945 but fell at the last hurdle against Easts 22-18. The loss was not long remembered as the Tigers went on to take out the two seasons, beating St George 14-12 in 1946, and Canterbury 13-9 in 1947

25.
Charles Fraser (rugby league)
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Charles Chook Fraser was an Australian rugby league footballer and later coach. He was a versatile three-quarter for the Australian national team and he played in 11 Tests between 1911 and 1920 as captain on 3 occasions. He is considered one of the nations finest footballers of the 20th century Chook Fraser was born in Short Street, Balmain in 1893. A Balmain junior, Fraser was graded with the Balmain Tigers at age 17 and he was member of Balmains premiership winning sides of 1915,1916,1917,1919,1920, and 1924. His 185 first grade games stood as the Balmain club record for more than four decades and he was the NSW Rugby Football Leagues top point scorer in 1916 and 1917. He was voted both the Wests Tigers Team of the Century and the Balmain Tigers Team of the Century in the position of centre. In only his second year in first grade with just 15 games to his credit and he made his Test debut at full-back against England in the 1st Test of 1911 at Newcastle upon Tyne and played in 20 other tour matches. He was the youngest Australian footballer to play Test football when he toured with the 1911-12 Kangaroos until surpassed by Brad Fittler in 1990 and he made his state debut for New South Wales in 1912 against New Zealand. He made a nine state appearances during his career against Queensland or visiting International sides. The 1919 touring side of New Zealand was the first Australian full Test side to cross the Tasman, half-way across the Tasman, bites from the ship-bred vermin led to Fraser and Duncan Thompson falling victim to blood-poisoned legs. His first appearance as captain of the Kangaroos was the first test of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and he led the side in all three Tests of that series. He coached a Gundagai side to success in a competition in 1926. He remained involved with the Balmain club in the 1950s and 1960s as a talent scout and lived at Dock Road and he told Tom Goodman in the Sun Herald in 1978, Im 85 but Im still a fan. I never miss a game at Leichhardt and I go to the S. C. G. for all the big games, in the same article Fraser stated that Dally Messenger was greatest player he had ever seen play Rugby League. Chook Frasers favorite hobby was sailing and he was a life member of the 18 footer sailing league in Sydney, and was a crew member of several noted boats and skiffs of his era. Charles 3rd son Jim, also a sailor, went on to win the 18-footers World Championship in 1958 sailing in Jantzen Girl. Chook Fraser died in Balmain in 1981, age 88 and he was survived by six children,17 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren, and was buried at Field of Mars Cemetery on the 3 February 1981. In 2006, Charles was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, in February 2008, Fraser was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the codes centenary year in Australia

26.
Harold Horder
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Harold Norman Horder was an Australian rugby league player. A national and state representative player whose career was with the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Regarded as one of the greatest wingers to play the game, born in Surry Hills, New South Wales, Horder played 86 games for Souths between 1912–1919 and 1924,9 games for New South Wales,13 Test matches for Australia. He went on to be the NSW Rugby Football Leagues top try-scorer in 1913,1914 and 1917, Horder was selected to make his debut for Australia during the 1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He was selected to go on the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and he also scored a double in Norths 1922 grand final win. He scored 102 tries for South Sydney and 50 tries for North Sydney, in his final season at Souths he became the first player to score 150 tries in NSWRFL history. In 1925 moved to Brisbane rugby league club Coorparoo as their coach for two seasons after leaving Souths. He appeared in an Australian film In the Last Stride, the New South Wales Rugby Leagues Rugby League Annual of 1928 commented if he is not the greatest of all rugby league footballers, he is unquestionably the greatest of all wing three-quarters. Horder was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame on 7 September 2004 at the Dally M Awards in Sydney. In 2004 Horder was named by Souths in their South Sydney Dream Team, consisting of 17 players, in August,2006 he was also named at winger in the North Sydney Bears Team of the Century. In February 2008, Horder was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the centenary year in Australia. Harold Horder at the Online Dictionary of Australian Biographies Harold Horder at yesterdayshero. com. au

27.
Albert Johnston (rugby league)
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Albert Ricketty Johnston was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer and coach of the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. He was a three-quarter for the Australian national team and played in eight Tests between 1919 and 1922, two as captain and he was born and grew up in Balmain, Sydney and started playing rugby league at a junior level when the game commenced in Australia in 1908. In 1911 he made his first grade debut with the Balmain Tigers at half-back and he joined Wests for the 1918 season, then spent two years as captain-coach at Newtown 1919-20. In 1912 he was selected in a Sydney Metropolis side, in 1913 he was in a New South Wales touring squad to New Zealand as half-back but was kept out of the major matches by the form of his peer Arthur Halloway. He captained New South Wales in some 1918 games and then made his Australian Test debut in 1919 on Australias tour of New Zealand and he scored a try on debut assisting Australia to a 44-21 victory. With tour captain Halloway unfit for the 3rd Test Johnston led the side to a victory in Auckland in the process becoming Australias 11th Kangaroo captain. In 1920 Johnston was chosen for the first Test of the domestic Ashes series and he captained the side to an 8-4 victory over England. Johnston did not captain Australia again and he appeared for New South Wales through till 1922 and toured with the 1921-22 Kangaroos playing in the 1st Test and in 11 tour matches. Johnston coached Newtown in 1923,1925 and 1926 and Wests in 1924 and he coached St George in 1933-35 taking the club to their first premiership final. He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1938 and he was a state selector from 1938 and state coach from 1939 to 1946. He was a selector in 1946 and coach of the national side for the 1946 first post-WWII Anglo-Australian series. Whiticker, Alan Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney

28.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
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The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league team based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital, the club was formed in 1908 as one of the founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, making them one of Australias oldest rugby league teams. They are one of two foundation clubs still present in the NRL, the other being the Sydney Roosters. The Rabbitohs traditional heartland covers the once typically working-class suburbs of inner-south Sydney now generally occupied by factories, the club is based in Redfern, where the clubs administration and training facilities are located, however they have long held a wide supporter base spread all over New South Wales. The teams home ground is currently Stadium Australia in Sydney Olympic Park, the club played in the first round of the newly formed New South Wales Rugby League, defeating North Sydney 11–7 at Birchgrove Oval on 20 April 1908. The team went on to win the inaugural premiership then successfully defended their title in the 1909 season, during these early years Arthur Hennessy was considered the founding father of the South Sydney rugby league club. A hooker and prop forward, Hennessy was Souths first captain and he was also New South Wales first captain and Australias first test captain in 1908. After further premiership success in 1914 and 1918, South Sydney won seven of the eight premierships from 1925–1932, the 1925 side went through the season undefeated and is only one of six Australian premiership sides in history to have achieved this feat. Such was Souths dominance in the years of the rugby league competition that the Rabbitohs were labelled The Pride of the League. South Sydney struggled through most of the 1940s, only making the semifinals on two occasions, South Sydneys longest losing streak of 22 games was during the period 1945–1947. In the 1945 season they managed to win one game while in 1946 they were unable to win a single game. In the 1950s South Sydney again had success, winning five of the six premierships from 1950–1955. Players that were involved in these years included Denis Donoghue, Jack Rayner, Les Chicka Cowie, Johnny Graves, Ian Moir, Greg Hawick, Ernie Hammerton, Bernie Purcell and Clive Churchill. Churchill, nicknamed the Little Master for his brilliant attacking play, is universally regarded as one of the greatest ever Australian rugby league players. In the late 1950s Souths began a run of form failing to make the finals from 1958–1964. However, in 1965 a talented young side made the Grand Final against St. George who were aiming to secure their 10th straight premiership. The young Rabbitohs werent overawed by the Dragons formidable experience and in front of a crowd of 78,056 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Financial problems started to hit Souths in the early 1970s, forcing players to go to other clubs

29.
Western Suburbs Magpies
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The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia. The club, as an entity, departed the top-flight competition in 1999 after forming a 50–50 joint venture with Balmain Tigers to form the Wests Tigers. The club currently fields sides in the Ron Massey Cup, Sydney Shield, S. G. Ball Cup, Campbelltown Stadium, which has a capacity of 20,000, is their home stadium. The club was one of the members of the Sydney rugby football league competition in 1908. Founded at a meeting on 4 February 1908 at Ashfield Town Hall, though they spent long periods of time as also-rans they did taste premiership success four times in the mid 20th century. They won their first premiership in 1930, beating St George 27–2, four years later they defeated Eastern Suburbs to win their second title. For the 1944 NSWRFL season Queensland 1910s representative player Henry Bolewski became coach the Western Suburbs club, replacing Alf Blair, Wests improved slightly on the previous season, finishing 5th, but failing to make the finals, and Bolewski was replaced by club great, Frank McMillan. Wests won a pair of premierships, beating Balmain in 1948. Both times they defeated a club hunting its third title in a row, apart from these occasions, the club was famous for three successive grand final matches in 1961,1962 and 1963 against the St George Dragons in the midst of their 11-premiership run. The club boasted footballers such as halfback Arthur Summons, Harry Bomber Wells, Kel OShea, Noel Kelly, the 1963 grand final was immortalised in a photograph which became known as The Gladiators after St. George captain Norm Provan and Summons trudged off the field together. A final period of glory beckoned in the late 1970s where they spent a few years at the top or near-top of the table, however attractive offers from other clubs and then doubts about the clubs viability led to years of exodus of talent. Wests did manage to win the 1977 Amco Cup, John Ribot, a winger for Wests, was the top try-scorer for the 1980 season. In 1983 the NSWRFL attempted to expel Wests from the competition, eventually, Wests relocated to Campbelltown in 1987. Ironically, this was where Newtown had unsuccessfully tried to move to four years earlier, Wests begun a rebuilding process in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Laurie Freier started the 1988 Winfield Cup season as the coach but was replaced during the season by John Bailey. The club made the finals in 1991 and 1992 under coach Warren Ryan. They were also NSWRL Club Champions in 1991 when all three made the semi-finals

30.
Newtown Jets
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The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydneys inner west. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season, the Jets home ground is Henson Park, and their team colours are blue and white. Established in 1908, Newtown were one of the members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. They competed continuously in the NSWRFL premiership until their departure in 1983, over this period they won the competition three times. This made Newtown the second rugby league club in Australia. The second club, Glebe, was formed on 9 January 1908, when the Dirty Reds were controversially excluded from the NSWRL Premiership in 1929, Newtown became the oldest Australian club. There is some argument however over whether or not Newtown was actually the first Rugby league club in Australia, the clubs website stands by this claim, however other sources, most notably Terry Williams book Out of the Blue, The History of Newtown RLFC, dispute this claim. Rugby league historian Sean Fagan similarly holds that the date of 14 January 1908 is the foundation day. The minutes of the meeting held by Newtowns Board shows the date as 8 January. Newtown played in the NSWRFL Premiership from 1908–83 and they won the 1910 NSWRFL Premiership after drawing the final was enough to see them win due to being minor premiers. A Newtown winger, Jack Scott, was the first to score a try in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Known as the Newtown Bluebags for most of its lifetime, the club adopted the Jets nickname in 1973, or perhaps due to the close proximity of the clubs home ground, Henson Park, to the major east/west flight path for the airport. The club won premierships in 1910,1933 and 1943, and finished second in 1913,1914,1929,1944, Jack Gibson took over as Newtown coach in 1973. Gibson picked his team solely on form, irrespective of seniority, the Wills Cup Final was played under floodlights at the old Sydney Sports Ground on St Patricks day before a crowd of 13,180. At half time St George were up 15-2 and looked certain to win, the 1981 Newtown team, which played in the clubs last NSWRL premiership grand final, included the legends of game Tommy Raudonikis and Phil Gould. It was coached by Warren Ryan, financial pressures forced the team out of the NSWRL Premiership at the end of 1983. The club continued to seek readmission, pursuing various different alternatives and this plan involved a name change for the club, to the Newtown-Campbelltown Jets. The proposal, including a new logo with the new name on the royal blue jersey, was approved by the football club directors

31.
Bill Schultz (Australian rugby league player)
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Bill Schultz was an Australian professional rugby league footballer of the 1910s and 1920s. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative prop forward, he played his football in Sydney for Balmain. Of German descent, Schultz was a Balmain junior who also played Australian Rules football at the local Christian Brothers with another future Balmain champion, Balmain went through the 1915 NSWRFL season undefeated, and Schultz tasted his first premiership success with the club. The following year he played for Balmain at prop forward in the 1916 NSWRFL seasons premiership final victory against South Sydney and he again won the premiership with Balmain in the 1917 NSWRFL season. Chang Schultz was first selected for the Australian national team in 1919,106, and winning another premiership with Balmain that year. He appeared in all three Tests in Australias Ashes-winning series in 1920, and was again a premiership-winner with Balmain. He was selected to go on the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, playing in the second Ashes series test victory against the Lions, and in the third test loss, Schultz played for Balmain at prop forward in the 1924 NSWRFL seasons premiership final victory against South Sydney

32.
Duncan Thompson
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Duncan Fulton Thompson MBE was an Australian rugby league footballer, coach and administrator. He also fought in the First World War, was named amongst the nations finest footballers of the 20th century, born in Warwick, Queensland, on 14 March 1895, Thompson would go on to become a banker and skillful rugby league halfback. He commenced his career in the Queensland town of Ipswich. Thompson moved to Sydney where he played for Norths before enlisting in the First Australian Imperial Force in 1916 during World War I. He left Sydney in 1917 on HMAS Ayrshire with the 49th Battalion within 13th Brigade of the Australian 4th Division, in April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive he was shot through the chest at Dernancourt on the Ancre River but survived. He was told he would not play again and carried a bullet fragment in his body for the rest of his life. He was discharged after demobilisation in January 1919, after returning to Australia in 1919 Thompson joined the Commonwealth Bank and re-commenced his football career. He made the 1919 tour of New Zealand in the first Australian full Test representative side to cross the Tasman, half-way across the Tasman, bites from the ship-bred vermin led to Thompson and Chook Fraser falling victim to blood-poisoned legs. Thompsons brother Colin also played rugby league for Queensland in the 1920s. He also took Norths to victory in the 1922 NSWRFL seasons final, thompsons departure from Sydney was bitter following a suspension on a kicking charge which he steadfastly denied. Returning to Queensland, he captained the Toowoomba team in 1924 and 1925, alongside Herb Steinohrt and his international representative career closed in 1924 with two Test appearances in the Ashes series against the touring British Lions. Thompson played in the doubles at the 1931 New South Wales Open. He served again for his country in the AIF in World War II as an officer at Townsville. He served as an administrator for the Queensland Rugby League and also coached the Toowoomba Clydesdales to six victories in the Bulimba Cup in the 1950s and he was a state and national selector in the 1950s and 1960s. A Toowoomba champion tennis player and Queensland state tennis representative, Thompson was also a fine golfer, Thompson died in Auchenflower, Queensland on 17 May 1980. Thompson was a cricketer and also a Queensland representative tennis player. In 1929 the Duncan Thompson Stand at the North Sydney Oval was named after him, in 1960 Thompson was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to sport. In 2005 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, in February 2008, Thompson was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the codes centenary year in Australia

33.
Edwin Brown
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Edwin Stanley Nigger Brown was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1910s and 1920s. A Queensland state and Australian international representative centre, he played football in Toowoomba for Newtown. Brown later served as a judge for The Sunday Heralds player of the season award and he was also president of the Toowoomba Rugby League during the early 1950s and became a local councillor in Toowoomba. He was Kangaroo Tour manager in 1954, in the 1960s a grandstand in Toowoombas main football stadium, the Toowoomba Sports Ground, was named the E S Nigger Brown Stand in his honour. Brown died in 1972 aged 74, the E S Nigger Brown Stand later became the subject of a book, The N Word, One Mans Stand, by Stephen Hagan who campaigned for its removal. When the stand was demolished in September 2008, the Toowoomba Sports Ground Inc decided not to use the Nigger nickname in future references to Brown

34.
Norm Potter
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Norm Potter was an Australian professional rugby league footballer of the 1910s and 1920s. Potters early club career was with Wests Brisbane, in 1918 he was selected and captained the first post-World War I Queensland state side. He toured New Zealand with the Australian representative side in 1919 making a sole Test appearance and he made the 1921-22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain playing in ten tour matches but he was kept out of the Test line-ups by the front-row pairing of Clarrie Prentice and Bill Schultz. In 1922 he was captain of the first ever Queensland side to beat New South Wales in the interstate series. After retiring as a player he became a coach in the Brisbane competition. Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney Pollard, Jack Gregorys Guide to Rugby League, Grenville Publishing Sydney

35.
Wests Panthers
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The Western Suburbs Panthers, often simply referred to as Wests, are a rugby league club from Brisbane, Australia. The Club is the oldest in the QRL and despite absences from the top grade in recent years, after leaving the Queensland Cup, they participated in the Brisbane A-Grade competition from 2005 until their senior sides disbanding in 2012. In 2013, the club entered a hiatus, but was announced to be part of the revived Brisbane Rugby League. The clubs roots trace back to the first game of rugby played in the state - a game between North Brisbane and Toombul in 1909. In 1927 one of the clubs best known players, Tom Purtell, Purtell was a hooker for Wests until 1941, and was involved with the club at management level until 1969, including a 20-year unchallenged stint as President. Although they won a total of 12 premierships, their most successful period was the 1990s and they were a founding member of the Queensland Cup in 1996, and were runners-up to Norths in 1998. In 2005 Wests made the Colts grand final, although leading at half-time they were eventually defeated by Norths. At seasons end the Broncos, who had had a feeder club arrangement in place with Wests for the few years, pulled out. At the same time Wests merged their teams with Hills District who had been playing out of the Arana Hills club, to form the Western Districts Panthers for 2006 onwards. In 2008 the Colts team then won the Fogs Challenge under the coaching of Craig Ingebrigtsen defeating Aspley 30-16 in the Grand Final. In 2009 the meteoric rise of the back to the big time continued with a memorable 30-24 win over arch rivals Redcliffe in the Fogs Cup Grand Final. Played at Stockland Park, Kawana the Panthers proved to tough for the Dolphins overcoming a 24-22 deficit to claim the title, adam Breen had a memorable day scoring 3 tries, to add to his 20 during the regular season and the leading try scorer title. The win continued the run of coach Craig Ingebrigtsen, who last year coached the Fogs Colts grand final winning team. In 2010 former club great Tony Currie took over as president in a bid to return Wests to the glory days in the statewide competition. As part of the restructure, the club planned to be based out of its spiritual home Purtell Park, however, after three seasons, Currie notified Queensland Rugby League that the club will be going on hiatus beginning in 2013. On 26 September 2014, the team was announced to be revived as part of the new Brisbane Rugby League, set to commence in 2015, and replace the FOGS Cup. In the new BRL, clubs were started by existing QRL teams and they currently rotate their home games between Purtell Park, Kev McKell Oval, Frank Lind Oval and various grounds affiliated with Norths. Traditionally Wests are referred to simply as Suburbs, other press-driven nicknames included the Mud and Bloods due to the design of their jersey, however the use of this nickname has become rarer since the introduction of the Panther logo in 1968

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the …

Plaque marking the foundation location of the RFU

Image: England 1871 first

Re-excommunication: cartoon by J. M. Staniforth. The RFU is represented as a religious cabal, expelling Arthur "Monkey" Gould from their "church" over the "Gould Affair". Gould, in his Newport jersey, appears unconcerned.